Nvidia AI server prices rise, giving Samsung more power

Nvidia’s dominance of the artificial intelligence chip market is giving it enormous influence over AI computing, but soaring demand for AI infrastructure is also strengthening the position of the companies that supply the memory its systems need.

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are gaining pricing power as demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and server DRAM continues to surge.

Nvidia has reportedly warned major customers that prices for some AI servers could increase by more than 15% for systems shipping early next year.

The increase is expected to affect machines built around Nvidia’s Grace Blackwell and next-generation Vera Rubin platforms, putting greater attention on the cost of memory inside these systems.

The major players in the worldwide DRAM industry include Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, while SK Hynix occupies a commanding position in HBM, a specialised memory that plays a vital role in advanced AI accelerators.

Samsung is also becoming dominant in the industry. The company has returned to the top of the worldwide DRAM market by securing 39% of the total market revenue during Q2 of 2026, followed by SK hynix and Micron.

With increased capability, AI models need greater capacity of fast memory to work effectively.

Though Nvidia has been making the AI accelerators, which form the core of AI technology, the performance of these AI accelerators depends on the availability of HBM and server DRAM memory.

That dependency gives memory manufacturers unusual leverage over Nvidia and other AI hardware companies. If memory prices continue climbing, Nvidia has limited room to absorb the additional costs without passing at least some of them on to customers.